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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23112433">Ripple Effect</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlattherockshow/pseuds/fancyasscheeseballs'>fancyasscheeseballs (girlattherockshow)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>An Unlikely Love: Rafael &amp; Anna [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Law &amp; Order: SVU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aftercare, F/M, Forced Orgasm, Light Bondage, Sensuality, enjoy my kinks, in which Rafael worships Anna's body, some light bondage here</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 15:54:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,088</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23112433</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlattherockshow/pseuds/fancyasscheeseballs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rafael has a great first day back to work after his suspension... which leads to Anna having an *exceptionally* great night. Ahem.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rafael Barba/Original Character(s), Rafael Barba/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>An Unlikely Love: Rafael &amp; Anna [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1597711</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Ripple Effect</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So I’ve had bits and pieces of this chapter written for quite some time, so I just needed to weave them together. There’s some light bondage here (it’s very vanilla, though) and some forcing of orgasms, but that’s also not super heavy on the noncon. Thought I’d put a warning there though, just in case.</p><p>Thank you to my girl Leslye for help with the Spanish in this chapter. I am a dolt when it comes to languages that are not English.</p><p>Song: Drunk in Love by Beyonce</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was seven o’clock in the evening and Anna was standing in the kitchen, making a celebratory breakfast in honor of Rafael’s first day back from his suspension. He had loved her challah French toast so much when they were in L.A. that she decided to make it for him that night as a surprise. The previous evening, he was like a little kid on Christmas Eve. He had draped his clothes over the armchair in their bedroom, carefully selecting his tie, suspenders, and socks, and had gone to bed early. Anna had quietly taken his suit—single breasted, two-tone blue plaid—and lilac shirt into the living room and ironed them for him. She set the timer on the coffee pot and left out his favorite travel mug for him. When she woke up the next day, in place of the travel mug was a post-it note, written in his nearly-illegible lawyer chicken scratch.</p><p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <em>The best part of going back to work is getting to come home to you. See you tonight. I love you madly. -R</em>
  </p>
</blockquote><p>She hadn’t been counting on him being home <em>quite</em> so early, though—she had expected him around his usual eight-thirty, especially since it was his first day back. Maybe he was easing back into it.</p><p>“Honey?” she called. “I wasn’t expecting you home just yet. Dinner isn’t quite ready, but—”</p><p>When he came into the kitchen, though, he wasn’t just walking. He was full-on strutting, like he was on a runway. She put the whisk down, set the bowl aside on the counter behind her, and turned back to him. Before she could say one more word, he pounced on her. He grabbed her around the hips and lifted her onto the kitchen island, his palms flat on the counter on either side of her. The look in his eyes was unmistakable. He wanted to fuck her. But this wasn’t his usual courtroom-style dominant personality. This was something feral, a primitive urge to claim her.</p><p>“What in the world—” she started, but he pressed his mouth over hers before she could finish her sentence. His kiss was rough, needy, all teeth and tongue. It was the kind of kiss that made her head spin, dizzying her in the best way. By the time he pulled back, she was breathless.</p><p>“I want you. <em>Now</em>.” That was all he said as he grabbed at the waistband of her lounge pants and yanked at it. She lifted her hips involuntarily, letting him all but rip the fabric from her body. All that was left was her t-shirt, riding up on her waist. He squeezed her hips so hard that she knew she would have bruises, but it felt so good that she didn’t care. He moved his hands down to her thighs and gave her that same, animalistic look. “Spread them.”</p><p>She bit her lip and did as she was told. But before she had time to process anything else, Rafael—still clad in his three-piece suit—was on his knees between her legs, using his mouth in a completely different way than he had that day in court.</p><p>“Holy <em>shit</em>!” she gasped, completely lost in the unexpected pleasure he was giving her. One minute, she’d been whisking eggs, and the next, she was half-naked and spread apart for the sexiest man she’d ever known. He moved away from her center and bit the inside of her left thigh, soothing it with his tongue afterward. He repeated the act on her other thigh, and then kissed his way back up, returning to her dripping pussy.</p><p>“<em>Te podría mamar hasta el fin</em>.” Then, he looked up at her, his eyes on fire. “I’m going to make you scream my name so many times you’ll forget every other word you know.” He flicked his tongue against the juncture of her thigh and her pelvis, sending shockwaves down her spine. And then, before she could say anything, he was back drawing slow, methodical circles over her clit.</p><p>“Oh, God, right there,” she moaned. “Just—just like that—”</p><p>He loved watching her, but sometimes, he felt he did his best work when he focused on the non-visual. He closed his eyes and listened to the sound of her voice, the pattern of her breathing, the noises she made. Whimpers and loud gasps punctuated the directions she gave him—a little more to the left, harder, slower. He moved his hands up to place them over hers as she grasped the edge of the counter.</p><p>He pulled back to catch his breath. “Are you close?”</p><p>She glared at him in frustration. “Rafael, I swear to all that is holy, if you stop now—”</p><p>That answered his question. He dove right back into her, even more eagerly than before, fucking her with his tongue this time. It took all of ten more seconds for her moans to turn into cries, so loud that he knew she was right at the edge of the cliff.</p><p>“That’s it,” he said between licks. “Be a good girl. Come for me.”</p><p>“Raf—oh god, Raf—Rafael!” Her entire body clenched with the force of her orgasm and she wrapped her legs around his neck, holding him tight to her. He planted rough, open mouthed kisses against her clit, something he knew she loved, until he felt her legs unhook and come back to rest on either side of his head.</p><p>Every other time they’d had sex—at this point, that number was in the hundreds—he would release her after an orgasm, let her get her bearings back before doing anything else. But this time, he wanted something different.</p><p>He wasn’t done with her yet.</p><p>Instead of backing off, he kept going. He pushed her legs wide open again and sank two fingers inside of her while he continued to eat her out. Her hips jerked against him, as if she was trying to get away, but he latched onto her clit and sucked on it, eliciting a yelp from deep in her chest. He couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him, which came out only as a vibration.</p><p>Anna’s overstimulated body was screaming. She knew that all she would have to do is say their safe word to get him to stop, but the truth was, she didn’t want him to. Pleasure and pain were blurring together as another orgasm built deep in her belly. “I—I can’t—so much—”</p><p>All she got in return was a hum and the feeling of his tongue flattening to lick a thick path from back to front. He moved his fingers in and out of her in time with the flicks of his tongue, curling them just enough to hit a spot inside of her that made her world explode. “Oh my God, oh my God, fuck, <em>fuck</em>! Don’t stop, please, please”—he sped up the pace of his fingers and sucked <em>hard </em>on her clit—“<em>Oh my God</em>, Rafael, I’m coming, I’m coming, I’m <em>coming, </em>oh my<em> God!</em>”</p><p>Rafael thought he’d heard Anna scream in pleasure before, but he had no idea exactly how loud she could be until that moment. She bucked almost violently against his face and he withdrew his fingers so he could open her folds. He licked just under the hood of her clit, prolonging her orgasm as much as possible. Then, he eased off, slowly bringing her down from her high with soft kisses and nuzzles against her inner thighs. Her breathing slowly returned to its normal rate, if a little labored.</p><p>He looked up at her from his position between her legs, his mouth and chin wet with the evidence of her orgasms. “You seem satisfied.”</p><p>She could only nod at him. But his smirk and the glint in his eyes told her that <em>he </em>wasn’t.</p><p>He stood up slowly, almost crawling up her body, and she immediately kissed him, wanting to taste herself on his tongue. He gladly obliged, putting a hand on the back of her neck. Her skin was warm and pink, cheeks flushed like she’d just run a marathon. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and it suddenly hit her that he was still wearing his entire suit. <em>How the hell is he not dead? </em>she thought. <em>That suit is pure wool! </em></p><p>Her thoughts were suddenly pulled out from under her by the feeling of his arms lifting her from her place on the counter. Before she knew what was happening, he was carrying her toward the couch—which was good, because she didn’t think she could walk on her own yet. He set her down, loosened the top two buttons of his shirt, and took off his tie. Initially, she thought he was going to start removing the rest of his clothes, but he stopped there and instead removed her t-shirt, leaving her completely nude while he was still almost completely clothed. Then, he turned her around to face the couch, her back pressed against his chest. She could feel the edges of his jacket and vest against her lower back and his pants tickling her legs; every inch of his suit that touched her bare skin electrified her.</p><p>He wrapped his arms around her, the tie still in his hand. It was only then that she realized it was one she’d bought for him. Months earlier, they had watched the entire Harry Potter movie series together and she had quickly declared him a Ravenclaw. After a particularly difficult rape case shortly thereafter—one that had given him a weeklong migraine—she’d gone on a mad hunt and finally found it; blue-and-silver striped satin, the Ravenclaw colors from the movies. Then she’d had the back of it embroidered with the House motto: <em>Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure.</em> At the time, it was just a sweet gesture to remind him that he was always the smartest person in the courtroom. Now, it had almost transformed into a sex toy, the cool satin rubbing against her skin while his warm fingers splayed across her stomach, holding her to him.</p><p>He kissed down her neck, five o’clock shadow scraping against her. When he got to her shoulder, he bit down gently, which made her breath catch in her chest. All the while, his arms were tight around her; the tie was pressed at her stomach by one of his hands, while he caressed her breasts with the other. She leaned her head back on his shoulder and looked up at him. “What has gotten into you?”</p><p>His bright green eyes softened at the edges and she immediately saw her sweet, loving fiancé return to her. “Do you trust me?”</p><p>“Always,” she said.</p><p>He dragged the tie from her stomach up her body, between her breasts, and over her shoulder, until he was holding it, along with her wrists, behind her. She suddenly realized what he had in mind and drew in a sharp breath. He put his lips next to her ear and whispered, “If it gets to be too much, you say the safe word. <em>¿Me entiendes?</em>” He would rather hang himself with that tie than cause her any pain.</p><p>“<em>Sí Señor Barba</em>,” she replied, earning a satisfying growl from behind her. She felt the tie tightening around her wrists, pinning them together behind her back. When he was satisfied with the knot, he pushed her forward so that she was bent over the couch, her breasts pressed into the pillow-back cushions. It was not lost on him that to allow him this meant that she trusted him completely.</p><p>He stepped back for a second, looking her over and enjoying the curve of her spine, her perfect ass, her long legs. “Oh, <em>chiquita</em>,” he purred, his erection straining against his pants, “if you could only see yourself right now. <em>Eres tan buena.”</em></p><p>Anna knew enough Spanish by this point to know what he’d just said, and she also knew what it meant, because the next thing she heard was a zipper being pulled down. She felt his large, warm hands running down her back and over her ass, slowly, as if he were admiring a piece of art. He squeezed the flesh and pulled her back slightly, as he ran the tip of his cock over her dripping entrance. Meanwhile, she thought she might literally die of anticipation if he wasn’t inside of her soon. “Please,” she cried, “please, baby—”</p><p>Something about the way she said the word “baby” made him <em>need </em>her. He put a hand on her hip and slowly—agonizingly slowly—pushed into her. The soft wool of his pants caressed her backside as he buried himself to the hilt inside her. She heard all the breath leave his body in one shaky gasp, like he’d lost his bearings for a moment. He didn’t pull back out at first, instead opting to move his hips in tantalizingly slow circles. Her tied hands found his, on the small of her back, and he squeezed them. The tightness in his groin increased with every movement; he had to focus all his energy into preventing his own release. But he wanted to ensure, one last time, that she was comfortable with this.</p><p>“How does that feel, <em>mi amor?</em> You like that?”</p><p>She pushed back against him, a silent affirmation, and that was all it took. He grabbed her hips and started pounding into her, hard enough to inch the couch forward. Although he knew his suit would need dry-cleaned about fourteen times after this, he didn’t care. It would be worth it just to be able to make her come like this.</p><p>Anna, meanwhile, was making sounds that she didn’t even know she was capable of making. Her heart was pounding so hard she could almost hear it. Four-letter words flew from her mouth in rapid succession, punctuated by the sound of his groans. Between the feeling of him inside her, the eroticism of being tied up, and the sensitivity of her body from her earlier orgasms, it was almost too much—<em>almost</em>.</p><p>And then she felt a sharp smack to her ass, hard enough to make her skin prickle. She lurched forward, surprised not just at the spank itself but also by how much she wanted him to do it again. “More,” she begged. “Please, more!”</p><p>“You want more of that, <em>mi amorcita</em>?” He repeated the action on the other side of her ass, hard enough to leave a light red imprint and make her whimper with pleasure. “That’s what you want?”</p><p>“God, yes!”</p><p>Her arms were starting to go numb from their position behind her back, but there was no way she was going to ask him to remove the tie—she was far too turned on by the feeling of being totally at his mercy. There were so many things she never thought she would enjoy after what she’d lived through, but here she was, bound and begging him to redden her ass while he fucked her from behind.</p><p>It was with that thought that she lost all control, clenching the muscles in her pelvis around his length like a vice. Usually she needed him to rub her clit to get her to come, but this time, the feeling of his cock filling her up while he spanked her was more than enough to push her into oblivion. “Fuck, fuck, fucking <em>Christ! </em>I’m coming, I’m coming, Rafael! <em>Fuck me, Papi</em>!”</p><p>That one word combined with her walls milking him was too much for him to bear. Every cliché was true in that moment; the world shattered, sparks flew, explosions and shockwaves and lightning were all around him. His orgasm hit him so hard, in fact, that he couldn’t even speak; his mouth dropped open in a silent cry while his eyes squeezed shut. His hips slammed against her once, twice, three times, as he shot rope after rope of cum inside of her.</p><p>Before he could even catch his breath, he untied her hands, certain she needed that release almost as much as he had needed his. The second he did, her arms fell limply to her sides until she brought her hands up to grip the back of the couch. After his senses returned to him, he released himself from her and tucked himself back into his pants. Then, he brought her slowly upright, his semen dripping down her thighs. He massaged her arms, soothing the overworked muscles. Her breathing was still shallow and rapid, like her orgasm had continued to rock through her even after he’d pulled out.</p><p>“Are you okay, sweetheart?” he finally managed.</p><p>She leaned her head back on his shoulder, every part of her body completely exhausted. “That was incredible,” she choked out.</p><p>His lips curved into a smirk as he turned her around in his arms. “<em>You’re </em>incredible,” he replied, putting her arms around his neck. “Hold onto me.”</p><p>She didn’t have time to ask what he meant before he lifted her into his arms, carrying her down the hallway to the bedroom. All she was able to do was loosely keep her arms around his neck and lean against him—her body wouldn’t allow for anything else. He laid her down on the bed and she finally regained some semblance of normal breathing patterns.</p><p>Wordlessly, he shut the door and began to undress, each article of clothing slowly falling to the floor, until he stood naked before her. The fading sunset streamed into the room through the part in the curtains, casting a glow across his body. Anna drew in a sharp breath as the truth hit her. Whether it was the way the muscles in his arms flexed or the veins in his hands popped, the way the light illuminated his face or just the way he looked at her, there was no other way to describe it. She was overcome. Overcome with emotion. Overcome by him.</p><p>“I love you,” she whispered.</p><p>He sank down onto the bed next to her, propped up on his elbow. “I love you,” he said, “until the end of time.”</p><p>She found a place to settle in the forest of his eyes. “Raf…”</p><p>“Yes, sweetheart?”</p><p>“Kiss me.”</p><p>It was then that he realized he hadn’t kissed her since before he was inside her. He leaned his head down and closed the space between them, tracing her lips with his tongue before pressing his mouth to hers. His left hand rested on her abdomen; his hands were large enough that he could cover her entire stomach with one of them if he splayed his fingers. He was always so warm—when she was wrapped up in him, she felt like she was inside the sun. So many times, when he kissed her, she thought she might burn up. But right now, she thought she might just turn to mist beneath his lips.</p><p>He deepened the kiss and moved his hand over her left hip, then her right, and then lower, until his fingers were just above the neatly trimmed patch of curls between her thighs. But then, he moved away. She pulled back and looked up at him, questioning.</p><p>He took her hand and moved it to where his had been, and then covered it with his own. “Again.”</p><p>She shook her head. “I can’t. It’s too much.”</p><p>He increased the pressure of his hand on hers, so that her fingers pressed into her folds “You can. And you want to.”</p><p>He guided her fingers, touching her as she touched herself. She had never let anyone see her do this and never thought she would. Not that she’d had to get herself off much since the first time they’d slept together, but on the rare occasion she did, he was what she would think of. Even before they started dating, he would be the fantasy that came to her when she needed release. And now she had him right next to her while she was doing it. Somehow, that made all the difference.</p><p>He kissed his way from her temple to her jawline, down to the curve of her shoulder, all the while keeping his hand on hers. She dipped two fingers inside herself, spreading the mixture of Rafael’s and her own orgasm over her sex. His mouth moved over her collarbone down to her left breast and she shuddered, from his lips and from the way both their fingers were strumming her clit. She had never had this much stimulation at one time before, and she had lost her capacity for rational thought.</p><p>“Why do you want me?” The words tumbled from her throat like a mudslide, unexpected and all-consuming.</p><p>He removed both their hands from between her legs and his eyes found hers again. “Why <em>wouldn’t </em>I?”</p><p>“I don’t know.” She was hesitant, like she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. “It’s just that tonight has been—and you’ve been so—I don’t know, generous? And I didn’t even <em>do </em>anything.”</p><p>He knew she didn’t doubt he wanted her physically; tonight had more than proven it. But it suddenly occurred to him that, for all the times she’d reassured him that he was all she wanted, sometimes she didn’t understand why he wanted her—<em>all </em>of her. Maybe he had spent so much time worrying about why she’d chosen him that he’d forgotten that it was possible for her to worry about why he’d chosen her.</p><p>So he decided to show her.</p><p>He climbed over her and braced himself up on his arms, planting an almost chaste kiss to her lips. Being pressed against her was enough to make him harden again, and she felt his erection, hot and heavy against her thigh. “<em>Eres todo para mi</em>,” he whispered. “You are my everything.”</p><p>She was warm and still so wet as he slid inside her again, and he couldn’t contain the shudder that shot through his body. Once he’d seated himself, he was still for a long moment before kissing her tenderly. Her legs burned as they spread even further apart to accommodate him, but she would have killed him if he’d stopped. He fit her perfectly, like he was made for her. <em>Maybe he was</em>, she realized.</p><p>The room had darkened even more, the sunset gone, but Anna’s eyes still penetrated his with the same intensity that was coursing through the rest of her body. Inexplicably, her head was suddenly filled with the lyrics to a song she’d associated with him for longer than they’d even been together. Without even thinking, she whispered, “I knew I loved you before I met you.”</p><p>He smiled and leaned his forehead into hers. “You and you and nothing but you,” he said, repeating lyrics of his own, the ones he’d heard her sing in Los Angeles. “<em>¿Estás bien?</em>” She nodded, and then, slowly, he started to move inside of her.</p><p>She was on fire, every nerve sensitive from the last two hours of him ripping one orgasm after another out of her. But this time, he wanted nothing more than to show her how much how much he adored her, how much he needed her, in every way. It didn’t matter to him whether either of them came. All he wanted was for her to know she was wanted.</p><p>He dropped his head to the side and pressed his cheek against hers. She felt his stubble rubbing against her again and didn’t even care about the burn that would be there then next day, the same way she wouldn’t care about the ache between her thighs. She wrapped her legs around him. “I love you. I love <em>this</em>.”</p><p>“<em>Te amo, mi querida</em>,” he murmured against her ear. She shivered at warmth of his breath as much as she did from his words. She knew what he said, because he’d said it ten thousand times before. But this time felt different. She felt every bit of what he was feeling. He might have been inside of her, but she felt like she was inside of him, too. And then, without warning or explanation, she started to cry. Feeling her tears fall against his cheek, he started to panic and pulled away. “Anna, <em>mi amor</em>? Do you need me to stop? Pennoy—”</p><p>She shook her head. “No. Please, don’t. Don’t ever stop.”</p><p>“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, resting a hand on the crown of her head.</p><p>“You aren’t hurting me.” She put a palm on his cheek and tightened her legs around him. He groaned quietly at the increase in pressure and he twitched inside of her. “Make love to me.”</p><p>He wrapped his free hand around one of hers. “<em>Para siempre</em>. Forever.”</p><p>“Forever,” she repeated. Then, she craned her neck and kissed him again, squeezing his hand like she was holding onto his love for her. Every time he rocked into her, their kiss deepened, growing more needy by the minute. When he finally broke away, he lowered his head to rest on her shoulder and she could feel his breath on her neck. Then he started whispering Spanish phrases that she could only barely understand; at first, they sounded like prayers, but then she realized they were about her.</p><p>“<em>Eres todo lo que necesitaré</em>. <em>Tú eres mi corazón, mi vida</em>.” Then he looked up again, directly into the California sky of her eyes. “<em>Eres mi razón para ser</em>.”</p><p>She only knew some of what he said, but both her body and her heart knew it was a declaration that he had given his heart to her, willingly and completely. “You’re everything I ever needed, Rafael,” she said. “I love you.”</p><p>Something changed in his eyes, like he had lost part of himself. He didn’t think it was possible to love her more than he had when he left for work that morning, but he did. People always said that love could move mountains. But his love for Anna wouldn’t just move mountains. It could create entire worlds.</p><p>His orgasm came on without warning that time, not as strong as the last but certainly more intimate. He chanted her name over and over, like a prayer, and the combination of his orgasm and the friction between his cock and her clit brought her with him. She tightened her legs around his waist, and though he didn’t think it possible, he found a new place inside of her as she cried out for him.</p><hr/><p>Thirty minutes later, Anna was awakened from a deep sleep by Rafael gently shaking her shoulder. “Anna, sweetheart,” he murmured. “Wake up.”</p><p>She turned her head up toward him and blinked a few times. He’d thrown on a pair of boxers—were they the ones he’d been wearing earlier?—and a white t-shirt. “What time is it?”</p><p>He looked at the clock on her nightstand. “Just about nine thirty. You were asleep for about a half hour.”</p><p>“Did you eat?”</p><p>He shook his head. “Not yet. I thought maybe it’d be a better idea to clean up first.”</p><p>She managed to sit up a bit, propped against one of their feather pillows. “I could use a shower, but I don’t think I’ll be able to stand up until, I don’t know, next year.”</p><p>“Well,” he replied, “I think I have a solution to that.”</p><p>“Oh?”</p><p>Then, for the third time that night, he lifted her into his arms—where he had the strength, she had <em>no </em>idea—and carried her to the bathroom. She was taken aback when he pushed open the door; the light was off, but he had put the peach-scented floating candles he’d bought her in Los Angeles into his glass scotch tumblers and placed them around the room, along with half a dozen other candles from her collection. The entire room was illuminated by their flickering light, which also cast a glow onto the water in the bath he’d drawn.</p><p>He set her down near the edge of the tub, letting her brace herself on him. Once she’d tested the water, she stepped into the tub—with some help from Rafael—and sank down. She pulled her sex-teased hair over one of her shoulders, the ends dipping into the water, and closed her eyes. Suddenly, she felt a hand pushing her forward gently, and then she was between Rafael’s legs, resting against his chest.</p><p>She turned her head up. “Rafael, if you think for one second that you’re going to get me to—”</p><p>“I don’t expect you to let me between your legs for the foreseeable future,” he said with a smirk. “So you can be between mine for a while.”</p><p>She relaxed against him while he massaged her shoulders, the warm water soothing her aching limbs. She wondered if he was as sore as she was, although she knew it wouldn’t be in quite the same places. “So…not that I’m complaining, but what prompted all this?” she asked. “And no, I don’t mean the bath. I know what prompted <em>that.</em>”</p><p>He laughed. “I had a good first day back.”</p><p>“Well I know you didn’t have a closing today. So what exactly <em>did </em>they have you do?”</p><p>“Arraignment court,” he replied, shrugging.</p><p>She was aghast and turned her head upward again. “You got horny over arraigning someone?”</p><p>There was a certain sense of humility about him. “For the last few years, I took my job for granted. I know I didn’t talk much about it, but this suspension scared the hell out of me. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t do this. And it gave me a rush to be in a courtroom again, even just for an arraignment. I had the energy of a new attorney. I hate to admit it”—he hesitated and groaned softly—“but I felt like Carisi for a minute.”</p><p>“Okay, so how does that translate to—”</p><p>He kissed the top of her head, a simple, sweet gesture that made her heart flutter. “I don’t want to make the same mistake with our relationship,” he said. “It’s easy to be attentive and affectionate on vacation. I wanted you to know that I won’t ever take you for granted. If there’s one thing that’s more important to me than my work, it’s you.”</p><p>She reached for his hand and kissed his fingertips. “Well, if this is what happens after an arraignment,” she said, “I can’t wait to see what happens after your first closing.”</p>
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